Missing Stop Sign

Started using the system that the City has for reporting issues.  It is clunky, but a means, I suppose.

The first request was for the Stop sign that has been missing for the last few years, ever since someone ran it down.  I also turned in a couple of street lights that were out over by the community center.

Request: The STOP sign for southbound traffic on N.K was damaged in an accident a few years ago and was never replaced ... not sure if that is by design, but it continues to create hazardous conditions for those traveling east-west on NW.Terr.

Someone from their office responded today, after about a week.

I have reviewed the City's traffic code and there is no ordinance for a stop sign at this location. I will review the area to see if a stop sign is warranted.

I have no idea what this person is talking about.  There has been a stop sign there for the last 50 years, until that accident.  

Create a Due Date based on a Date

Yet another Power Query note for Power BI. 

I have a string of dates in which I need to create a due date as the 5th of the following month.

In Power Query,

1. Choose the Date Column
1. Choose Add Column Tab
1. From Date & Time
1. Date > Month > Month
2. Go to the formula box and change
1. "Month" to "NextMonthDate"
2. "Date.Month([Date]" to "Date.AddMonths([Date],1"
3. Change NextMonthDate column to a Date type, if is not already
4. Choose the NextMonthDate Column
1. Choose Add Column Tab
1. From Date & Time
1. Date > Month > Month
5. Add Column Tab
1. Custom Column
1. Name = Fifth
1. = 5
6. Choose the NextMonthDate Column
1. Choose Add Column Tab
1. From Date & Time
1. Date > Year > YEar
7. Select Columns for Month, Fifth, Year
1. Transform to Text type
8. Add Column
1. Custom Column
1. Name = "DueDate"
2. [Month]&"/"&[Fifth]&"/"&[Year]
9. Select DueDate Column
1. Transform to Date type

There may be a more effective way, but this method seems to work perfectly.

Doing Nothing to Achieve Everything

Doing and Demanding

"Damning the system is trite and only serves to further dependency.

Doing and demanding are more liberating."

- me

White Men and their Positionality

Since this comment will likely be deleted from the blog, I will store it here, as an open note to the illustrious, though misguided Doctor.  Apparently, a desire to be included caused her to follow the easy path laid out for her by extremists of the day.

I am disappointed in your choosing to begin this discussion with an attempt to degrade a cross-section of people, and minimize their contributions, seemingly for no other reason than to align yourself with the latest fashionable opinion.

It is NOT "important to acknowledge their positionality as white men," and there is no justification for this remark.  These men had no choice about their station in life, though took full advantage of it, as anyone else would.

The statement and following text framed your entire argument as a racial rather than an intellectual argument and contributes to perpetuating stereotypes and discrimination.

That is the popular path of these times though, with everyone scrambling to prove themselves non-discriminatory through discriminatory actions and words.

There has got to be a better way.

You cannot make learning equitable for all students by minimizing the contributions of others, regardless of their race and historical context, whether you agree with it or not.

Missouri Lewis & Clark Expedition

Wandering up to Lewis & Clark State Park seemed a good way to waste an afternoon when others were mired in the usual Labor Day activities.  There is not a lot to see there beyond a huge compass and a mostly dried up and overgrown lake bed. Google Maps displays much more water in their aerial view, labeled as having been taken in 2024.  Where did it all go?  The Missouri State Parks web site indicates the water has disappeared entirely due to prolonged drought conditions in the area.

The lake was not even a high point in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, excepting that they named it Gosling Lake and that they explored it on the 4th of July in 1804.  Beyond that, it is little more than a note in their long adventure.  It was an equally interesting distraction for us, with typical wetland growth in full depth, though beginning to wind down for the season.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark would have enjoyed the nice paved path representing the Interpretive Trail out to the compass overlook.  Connecting with the Gosling Lake Trail, it turns to gravel and completely gives up on anything but a mowed path for the Independence Trail, bordered by sunflowers reaching as high as 5 meters..  This latter is not even listed on the Missouri State Parks web site, so must be a late addition.

Data Center Water Usage Soars to Unsustainable Levels

That is all that appears in my recent news feed, a headline, when it was published, and a short byline that reads, " Energy usage might be top of mind in the AI era, but soaring data center water consumption sparking concern among industry leaders."

A short two days after the story was published, attempting to access the associated link gets a 404 Error.

Attempting to search out the title on the Inform based publication gets a strong "Sorry, no results found."

Something tells me that this story may not exactly fit the narrative that Informa or their publication "AI Business" wants to forward, if they expect to retain the ad revenue they currently receive.

This is as close to the truth as you get folks.  We are in desperate times, when it comes to water, but nobody will admit to it.  Those that do quickly reverse their position on pressure.

The story appeared in search results on Google four days later, with a different byline, reading "Data center water consumption has spiked dramatically in the last six years, with the recent AI explosion leaving many major tech firms' lofty sustainability goals in serious jeopardy."  Clicking through is still a 404.

It is really no matter.  The truth is already out there, though big tech will continue to work hard at hiding the real impact of their efforts own and control your life.

Don't believe it?  Here are few articles to the set the tone.

As Use of A.I. Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires

A new front in the water wars: Your internet use

Data centres ‘straining water resources’ as AI swells

Google emissions jump 48% in five years due to AI data center boom

The staggering ecological impacts of computation and the cloud

At some point, we have to eat.  We cannot continue to pave all the good land out of existence and use all the water for data points.